


Kitty Birb

by mandaree1



Series: it ain't technically a baby draft if they're your kids [6]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Accidentally kidnapping your niece- a story by Catra, Adora being bad at handling emotions, Bow being GREAT at handling emotions, Catra being bad at handling emotions, F/F, F/M, Follows up another work in the series, Glimmer being bad at handling emotions, Specifically "grr", Title is an inside joke, Trimming your nails to atone for your sins, getting punched in the face
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23723383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandaree1/pseuds/mandaree1
Summary: "Can youpleasejust stop it!" she'd shouted; and Glimmer honestly, truthfully didn't think that was the worst thing she'd ever said to a small child. It wasn't even the worst thing anyone had said to Michelle. Maybe it was the tone? Regardless, she'd barely had time to open her mouth to say something else (an apology, maybe?) before Catra descended on high to claw at her like a feral animal.And then she was gone.And Michelle was gone with her.And now Glimmer had to smack a bitch.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: it ain't technically a baby draft if they're your kids [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1276295
Comments: 1
Kudos: 71





	Kitty Birb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkMasterofCupcakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMasterofCupcakes/gifts).



Glimmer's cheek is sticky and warm and ever-so-painful from the strike of claws, but she hardly noticed, caught up in a whirlwind of rage. Today hadn't exactly been a good day for the Commander; she'd woken up still aching from the last battle, and that had signaled a day of irritation and snappishness, which had peaked when her daughter, Michelle, had let out one too many cries.

"Can you _please_ just stop it!" she'd shouted; and Glimmer honestly, truthfully didn't think that was the worst thing she'd ever said to a small child. It wasn't even the worst thing anyone had said to Michelle. Maybe it was the tone? Regardless, she'd barely had time to open her mouth to say something else (an apology, maybe?) before Catra descended on high to claw at her like a feral animal.

And then she was gone.

And Michelle was gone with her.

And now Glimmer had to smack a bitch.

Though she lacked the kind of scenting abilities Catra had, Glimmer's nostrils flared as she marched around corners and down hallways, eyes blown wide with a very rare kind of rage. It's easy to be afraid, at times like this, but if she faced every stressful situation with fear she'd be dead by now. Anger got her through it. Anger would get her baby back.

The scene seems to almost shift in her mind. Time jerks back and forth like tug-of-war. Minutes feel like seconds; an hour is a day. Glimmer's fingernails dig little crescents into the palms of her hands as she frantically chews her lip. She's almost halfway across a hallway and into a new stairwell when Adora's voice pierces the veil.

"Glimmer!"

She sounds relieved.

Glimmer feels anything but.

She whirled around, an order on the edge of her lips, only to realize there's no need. Behind Adora is Catra, and in Adora's arms is Michelle. Catra's features in particular strike her; rubbing her elbow, ears flat, tail drooping. She avoids meeting Glimmer's eye.

"I'm sorry," Adora says, her claw-scar startling in the odd lighting. "We would've gotten here sooner, but you move quick!"

Glimmer's eyes harden. It's a hard feeling to describe, sensing any leftover warmth leaving, but Adora recognizes it. Adora immediately stiffens and straightens a bit. Adora knows her.

Adora's _afraid_ of her.

Adora's only afraid for other people.

She swivels her gaze to Catra, who still hasn't looked at her. "You _took_ her," she said, voice trembling on the word.

Catra winced. She jerked her head in a nod.

Glimmer feels herself start to shake. " _How could you?_ "

"Glimmer, please," Adora says, and stepped between them. Adora's always been like this. She's always made a habit of making herself a meat shield. It pisses her off even more, because this had nothing to do with her until she touched Michelle and held her and waited to bring her back. "You have to understand- you were yelling."

"I'm not now," she replied, cold as ice. "So why don't you _explain to me_ how any of that was okay?"

Adora's still holding Michelle. Glimmer tracks her daughter's little sleepy twitches as Adora waves a hand, sweating profusely. At least she's not hurt or traumatized. "It's not okay! No one said that. It's just... adjusting!"

"Adjusting," Glimmer said blankly.

"Right. Adjusting to..." She awkwardly gestured to Michelle, then her. "You know?"

"I don't think I do, Adora."

Catra seemed to rouse herself, then. Her ears perk up a little, but not in a friendly way, lifting from drooping in shame to flat with defensive anger. "Just spit it out already," she snarled, but there was no heat behind it. "You sounded like Shadow Weaver, alright? Is that what you wanted to hear? Does knowing every inch of what makes me tick make you happy? Does that make you _feel better_ , sparkles?"

Glimmer sees red.

"Does it-"

Glimmer doesn't teleport, but she moves so fast she might as well have. She _appears_ , slamming her fist solidly into Catra's cheek. She feels her skin dip and squish around her fingers. The woman doesn't fall over, but she takes a good handful of steps back to regain her balance, clutching at her face.

" ** _Fuck you_**!" she shrieks. There's not a better way to word that. It's loud and high-pitched and her eyes are swimming with angry, angry little tears, hot and sticky. "I am _nothing_ like her! Nothing! How could you- how could you act-"

Adora side-steps into frame again. Her blue eyes are blazing. "Glimmer-"

She doesn't wait for the admonishment. Glimmer snatches Michelle out of the woman's arms, making her flinch instinctively, and she storms away without another word. As far as Glimmer's concerned, they're even.

* * *

Okay. Maybe they aren't.

The thing is, Catra and Adora are her go-to babysitters. They're almost always hanging around somewhere in the castle, and between the three of them they usually manage to keep Michelle preoccupied. But Glimmer just _can't_ , not after what happened. Not with Catra. Not now. Maybe not ever. And Adora's on _her_ side.

Thankfully, there's ways to circumvent this issue. Namely, Angella, who accepts the infant with a soft little smile. The Queen quickly blew a raspberry on Michelle's stomach, delighting in the giggle it created. Glimmer almost felt at ease.

Almost.

The meeting room is packed with Princesses of all types, a far cry from the empty table of Glimmer's youth. At the head is Angella, of course, with Micah's empty chair beside her. Castaspella and Glimmer tended to swap the chair on her other side, depending on who was more vital to the meeting, but her Aunt had been too busy to attend this time around. Next to Glimmer sat Bow, and next to Bow was Adora's chair. But Glimmer had a bit of a trick up her sleeve this time around.

"Finally!" Swift Wind neighed, squishing his haunches down into the cushion. There was a distinct snapping noise. "I tell ya', horses everywhere have been waiting for the day we could sit beside you twoleggeds as equals. It's a disgrace it took so long, but let's focus on the positive!"

Scorpia piped up from beside Emily. "Aww, lucky!" She carefully ruffled a claw through Baylea's hair. The child was barely old enough for schooling. "This little bugger took my seat, so I guess I'm standing."

"I'll stand with you," Adora said, hardly even looking Glimmer's way. Catra grabbed her elbow and squeezed.

"It's _your_ horse. **You** sit with it."

"Hey!" Swift Wind scowled at the feline. "It's very rude to misgender horses _or_ people. I'm a proud man, and you know that."

Adora pointedly wrenched her arm out of Catra's grip. "I'll stand," she repeated. "You're inured."

Glimmer rolled her eyes dismissively. "It's a black eye. Get over it."

The fur along Catra's tail bushed out. Adora quietly apologized and moved beside Scorpia, who was staring at Glimmer like she was a ticking time bomb. Maybe she was. Did it really matter? This was professional business time.

"Wow," said Mermista, playing patty-cake with her toddler. Pearl was remarkably quiet during meetings, and never strayed from her side, and was probably the reason why children were allowed in the war room in the first place. "This isn't awkward at all. Did someone start a love triangle or something?"

"Oh, I hope not," Entrapta added from the ceiling. "I would've missed the opening to what could be a _very_ juicy experiment."

Perfuma shuddered. "Love triangles are so cliché. I stopped putting them in my fanfiction decades ago."

Bow leaned over to mutter in her ear. "Should I be concerned?"

"No," Glimmer replied. "It's taken care of."

"What does-"

"Commander Glimmer," Angella says, and the entire room falls silent. "Your report."

Glimmer felt the age-old pulse of terror as she stood, arms behind her back. There was something so _awful_ about all of it; the formality, the eyes on her, the blank faces. She belonged on a battlefield, fighting for Etheria. Not this.

"Your majesty." Glimmer started with that so she wouldn't forget to add it on later. Angella leaned her head to the side a little. "Attacks on the Frozen Wastes have amped up in the past moon, with no clear winner on either side. Princess Entrapta believes the enemy is after further First Ones tech inside the ice."

Entrapta was dangling upside down now, like the chandelier was a set of monkeybars. "I sure would be! We got some choice stuff there the last time, and those wormy bois absolutely hindered us from taking all that was there."

"Do you suspect weapons, or scraps?"

"Hmm... hard to say! Probably both. The worms were soothed by the destruction of that crystal, but they didn't go into restful slumber, so I suspect there was something even larger underneath."

Angella looked across the table. "Has Princess Frosta been made aware of this?"

"Yes, your majesty," Adora chipped in. "She's awaiting word as to whether to deploy herself to the Frozen Wastes."

"It wouldn't be wise for her to go alone," she advised. Queen Angella had grown accustomed to orders being given by the Alliance without her approval, though she wasn't fond of it, especially when those orders had Glimmer throwing herself into danger again. "This may be a scouting mission, but it's still a war zone, and those worms seemed to be very powerful."

Glimmer dipped her head. A horrible, horrible thought occurred to her, then. Something that made her sick to her stomach. But before she could stop herself it was out of her mouth. "I'd advise She-Ra and Second-in-Command Catra join with her."

There was an extremely ominous silence as the room swiveled its collective head. Adora would go, without the slightest hesitation, but Adora wasn't the known troublemaker who absolutely loathed the cold.

Catra grit her teeth so hard a fang or two poked out. "No way."

"I guess it makes sense," Mermista said, with some hesitance. "I mean, She-Ra could talk the worms down, right?"

 _Yeah, that's right!_ Glimmer felt a sparkle of reassurance. The idea might have been a bit out of left field, but it had a decent basis of logic behind it. She-Ra's a powerhouse. Catra is her Second-in-Command. Maybe this meeting won't tank entirely. "The front lines could use some decent leadership behind it right now. She-Ra could give that to them."

Catra slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "I said _no_."

"A little frostbite won't kill you," Glimmer snapped. "Suck it up."

Angella's eyes narrowed. "Commander Glimmer."

She wilted a bit. "Sorry, mo- your majesty. I just think-"

"No, you don't think!" Catra cut her off with a lash of her tail. "If this was an actual war thing, I'd do it. You all know me enough by now to know I'll do what it takes to survive. But this?" She dragged a hand down the table, unintentionally leaving claw marks. "This is all because _Commander Glimmer_ is a childish bitch who can't handle bad things happening to her."

"Both of you, enough!"

"I'll go," Adora said, trying to cut the argument off at the throat. "Catra can stay, and I'll go."

Catra glared at her. "No, you won't. This isn't about us. She-Ra is needed at Bright Moon. Stop trying to fuck yourself over something you didn't even start."

Adora awkwardly scrunched her chin into their shoulders. "I guess I'm not going, then."

Glimmer felt her ears begin to burn. It was bad enough Catra was humiliating her in front of the Alliance, but now Adora was in on it? "I'm your Commander! If I find your presence is needed, then it's my job to-"

"Hey," said Scorpia, pointedly shouldering in front of Adora. "If Wildcat doesn't wanna go, and She-Ra doesn't wanna go, then maybe we shouldn't send them? I mean, I'm no Commander, obviously, but isn't passion three-fourths of the battle?"

"No," Entrapta chirped, "that's usually all the bloody bits."

Glimmer felt her world take a turn as Scorpia stared at her. The Princess was the kindest of them, and she wouldn't lie or try to purposefully make anyone's life harder. Add that to the fact that she had determined her best course of action was to protect She-Ra, and it was pretty obvious who was really in the wrong here.

Angella sighed and put her chin on her hands. "Let us table this for now, shall we? I would rather discuss it when clearer heads prevail. Commander Glimmer, continue."

"But-" she started. It felt wrong to not finish this now.

There was a warm hand on her elbow.

"C'mon, Glimmer," Bow said quietly.

She hesitated, then finally relinquished. "Yes, your majesty."

* * *

Glimmer's fingers ate into the wood of Michelle's crib as her daughter slept. She knew, logically, that she had exactly zero superstrength, but it felt like the slightest twitch would send splinters raining down on the child. Splinters were another thing Glimmer was good at. Destroying whole things into teeny, tiny pieces, then making them someone else's problem.

Bow came around behind her, setting his chin on her shoulder. "Second night in a row. You just gonna stare every night for eternity?"

"Not eternity," Glimmer deflected. "Just until she's twenty. Wait, make that forty."

"The rebellion needs its Commander rested and ready, Glim. Come back to bed."

"Well, the Commander needs her daughter to be here in the morning."

"She will be. I promise, she will be."

Glimmer felt herself start to tear up again, something she took care of with brutal swipes of her wrist. "I was so... scared. All I could think of was how fast Catra is. How strong she is. If she really wanted to, she could scoop Michelle up and just be _gone_ and we'd never have seen them again!" There was an audible hitch in her chest. Her fingertips were fizzling, now. "And Adora was in on it!"

Bow dug his chin in a bit, just enough to get her attention. His eyes were soft. "Glimmer, we both know Adora and Catra have history with that sort of thing. I guess, if anything, we should feel lucky they've moved on enough to want to protect Michelle from more of the same."

"She accused me of being like Shadow Weaver. I would never-"

"I know that. Everyone knows that. Catra reacted badly to the situation, and when she reacts badly she takes it out on other people. That's her flaw, and her own thing she has to deal with." He squeezed her midriff and stepped back a little. "She feels really bad. She won't say it, but she does. I caught her clipping her claws yesterday."

"Adora-"

"Fell into her old routine of trying to protect Catra. It's shitty all around, but it's not unexpected."

Glimmer scoffed. "Well, I'm _sorry_ I can't just rationalize everything like _you_ do."

"Nothing about this is rational!" he snapped, then winced, thankful Michelle was such a heavy sleeper. "I can't help that I understand, alright? I love my dads and they love me, but I will be damned if I've told them anything about the war or the work we're doing in it. Did _you_ tell your mother you clocked Catra?"

Her shoulders fell, swamped with sudden guilt. "She told you?"

"Adora did."

"It's not _my_ fault she looked so punchable."

Bow fought against a smile, and almost won, carefully putting an arm around her shoulders. "This isn't something that will ever be okay. Nothing I- or anyone- can say or do will make this better. Throwing them out the door won't fix the problem; they'll just come back." There was a warm thumb rubbing her arm, and Glimmer hated how comforting it felt. "Let it go, Glim. I'm here."

Glimmer silently released her deathgrip on the cradle. The anger was gone by now- long gone, even. But it was easier to stew in the embers than it was to let herself be like this. Let herself be a mother who almost lost her infant.

She turned her head into his arm and cried.

* * *

"You're not actually going, are you?"

Catra barely looked at her. The feline was comfortably leaned on the windowsill, letting the nice breeze ruffle her mane. "Of course not. What made you think we were?"

"I saw Adora packing."

"We were just moving some stuff. Scorpia stayed over."

That's a bald-faced lie. Scorpia already has her own section in the closet and her own little cushion to rest on. But Glimmer knows this is a horrible time to press, and doesn't, coming closer. It's a pretty wide window. "Nice nails."

Catra held up a hand with a queasy scowl. Attempt at self-atoning or no, it wasn't a venture she intended on repeating. "Whatever. They match the 'eyeshadow' you gave me."

"I'm not sorry," Glimmer says firmly.

"Good," Catra responded. "Because I'm not either."

"Bitch."

"Bitch."

Glimmer laughed. It almost felt natural.

For now, that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Early Birthday, cupcakes! This ended up including a scene more than expected and a few less Princesses, but I enjoyed every step of the writing process! Be safe and happy, ya'll!
> 
> -Mandaree1


End file.
